Relaxed Ladies (Part II)

Saturday of our Retreat...leisurely cereal, fruit, yoghurt and toast for breakfast, then the second 'session' - I shared my testimony, with an emphasis on 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness", speaking largely about my experiences on St Helena Island and struggles with depression, and how the Lord used those times to teach me reliance on Him.  The rest of the morning was a time for chatting and sharing, or dispersing for a snooze...lunch appeared without us lifting a hand, thanks to two very brave gentlemen who came on camp to do the cooking.

Liz graciously brought along craft supplies and a good stack of paper and goodies which, along with some surprises in the brown paper gift bags, turned into a card-making challenge.  We were tasked with producing a card using certain per-requisite items like a bamboo kebab stick, a scrap of yarn, a button, some chipboard...it was a varied list and the cards themselves were just as interesting!  After the challenge was complete we were free to keep going, which took us to afternoon tea and beyond.

Still some time to relax though...no wonder Liz wasn't tired after the late nights we shared at camp!  I was blessed to be roomies with Liz, Tehila and Eliya, the latter being an honorary lady at her tender age of one.  We had some great late-night and early-morning chats in the pyjama-clad comfort of sleeping bags and bunk beds.

Saturday night entertainment...a Sound of Music singalong!  Our social committee (ie Liz and me) had things sussed.  Liz printed out all the words for everyone and we even stood for the final 'climb every mountain' - can't reach those high notes with a squashed diaphragm :) 

Kiwi-style 'supper' during intermission...cheese and biscuits, grapes, chocolate, and chips.

Relaxed ladies (Part I)

An idea and conviction from Nyree, months ago and once-postponed, finally came to fruition this weekend in the form of a Ladies' Retreat. The idea was to get a group of ladies together to come away and relax, spending time in the Word, with the Lord and with each other. Our chosen venue, Glenburn Lodge, looked a little, er, rustic...but after two hours of Liz and I fluffing pink tablecloths and wrapping serviettes and blowing up balloons, we had a stunning meeting and eating area in which to spend the bulk of our time.

Our ladies started arriving around 6 or 7 pm and were welcomed by Liz, with instructions to make bandannas to be worn in the style of the Sound of Music for the duration of the evening...along with six pegs and a list of taboo words which, if uttered, would cost the orator a peg (husband, children, housework, ironing and cooking were on the list of unmentionables...we wondered how ever we would have any conversations without using these forbidden words!).  After everyone had settled in we had a short time of worship, then Nyree shared parts of her testimony with a strong focus on "trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding" (Prov 35). 

Following my leader

We finished our second block of six-week classes last week, so tonight was our second social dance. First though, a solo class learning a Charleston-style routine choreographed by Lenard...didn't quite stick after an hour but a lot of fun.

Rene and his band, MLC, were our live entertainment for the dance...great music and atmosphere.

A brief bit of a rest - Nick and I hardly sat down for the evening, preferring to get in some good exercise and practice :)  Learned a few new moves too, along with Liz and Graham. 

We are really enjoying swing as a dance style and marriage-builder; we've learned some interesting lessons about following and leading on the dance floor, and how they relate to marriage.  One person leads, the other follows.  If both try to lead it's confusing and you end up stepping on toes.  And...there's never been any question as to whether it's the male or female who leads - men are always cast as leads!

Egte melk-tert

I'm happy to say that the sun was out again today, but with fresh snow on the mountains there was a decided chill in the air. Didn't detract from a wonderful Lord's Day though; the morning service on God's love was absolutely splendid and I'd highly recommend listening to it from the link on the church's blog. We simply cannot grasp the "breadth or length or height or depth" of His love for us which has been "poured into our hearts through the Holy spirit who has been given to us" (Ephesians 3:18 and Romans 5:5).  Being the first Sunday of the month it was our fellowship lunch day, and there will shortly be a brand new church family photograph on the blog, thanks to Andreas who gathered the congregation outside for a group pic.  Mid-afternoon we called in at the de Beers whose crowd-gathering tactics were evidently more successful than ours - the secret must lie in luring would-be guests with genuine South African milk tart, I''m sure of it.  

I let Leone (above, on the right) loose with my camera and she captured some amazing shots - here are a couple of her photos.

Ha ha ha ha Matt...we did have a lot of laughs over some very funny stories!  Below - Adele (right) with her sister and mom.

Back to church in the evening for another excellent discourse in Nick's worship series - this time on the topic of dance in worship - very interesting indeed.

Three's company enough

We have had the most marvellous weather the last few days - warm nor'westers, heaps of sunshine - bare legs and short sleeves are making a come-back.  Except for today, in which it rained and was cold...back to thermals and socks.  Definitely a day for soup and a crowd of people...several texts later we had a sum total of three friends willing to spend the evening with us!  Very glad for their happy company though; Liz and Justus had a go on Nick's piano accordian, and then since we were such a small group, we squeezed into our 7-seater car and drove to Liz's shop for some table tennis.  Magnums on the way back here, cups of tea made...Graham returned from an unsuccessful hunting trip at this point and so we got to enjoy his company for a brief while too.  Plenty of left-over chicken and vegetable and delicious tomato soup left in the fridge!

Serious DONKEY competitions going on around here, to the BeeGees blaring on vinyl - Nick prepares...he serves...and he's off!

Friday Family+Friend Fun

Our Friday Family Fun evenings have changed face now as summer approaches - the appeal of cocooning ourselves in the lounge with a pizza and DVD, curtains drawn and a fire blazing, is entirely lost with the onset of summer and the already long days (we presently have just over 14 hours of daylight).  The pizza idea is still a good one though, but we need an alternative activity.  Good thing Liz was at a loose end with Graham away for most of the weekend, so she popped in after tea for a game of Ticket to Ride.

...And, this week we have been busy with an earnest effort on our work and study permit reapplications. It's a monstrous task, with wads of forms to be completed and all manner of information to gather. Caleb and I went for our chest x-rays today; Nick is going for his on Monday (Aaron doesn't need one, being under the age-limit). We've long since applied for police clearance certificates; next thing is our medical examinations which start on Thursday coming. We are hoping to have the applications in by the end of this month, giving Immigration two and a half months to process them. Hopefully that will be long enough and we don't get deported with expired permits!!

Happy Reformation Day

So while everyone else was in Halloween mood, us Reformed Baptists were celebrating Reformation Day...it was on the eve of All Saints Day (31 October) 1517 that Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of Wittenburg University. These theses were largely protestations against the Catholic practice of selling indulgences, along with other heresies he found in the Catholic church. At school, Justus said, "hey, let's post the 95 Theses somewhere..." and so we did. Ta da! Grant found some ridiculous props (what kind of teacher has a blonde wig handy in his school office??) Everyone walking down the corridor to the staffroom had to dodge the long strip of paper - there were many questions asked, to be sure!

Nick enters mid-to-late thirties

Happy birthday to my Honey Bear...I woke Nick and the boys up early for the Gift Giving which lasted about five minutes, then the three of them went back to sleep - ha!  We gave Nick a kindle...reading is such a huge part of his work and ministry and although the books are not always necessarily cheaper electronically, he won't have any more bookshelf space issues or aching shoulders from too heavy a bag when he walks between home and church.  It was a fairly normal day otherwise for him - work, then Caleb's basketball, but we got Chinese takeaways for tea.  The poor man didn't even get a birthday cake!

What a FUN day!

The PTA had a Fun Day organized at the school today - after some months of planning and organizing, a very successful day was pulled off. Thank the Lord for the stunner of a day - clear skies and mild breezes. So, there was a sausage sizzle which was where Nick found himself most of the day;

...various wares on sale or on offer for a donation - the kids painted these rocks during their art lessons in school in the week preceding the fun day; many rocks found their homes with their creators!

I contributed coconut ice to the cake stall - Caleb spent his own pocket money to buy a packet, bless him!

Face painting, three-legged races, egg-and-spoon races, tug-of-war, ice-cream sales...

And finally, a three-man catapult came out to. Nick allowed himself to be the target of water-balloon ammo. Sadly no one hit him, despite his best efforts to run into the flying ballons! Well done to all involved and thanks to all who came - what a Fun Day it was!

Had a brief rest at home before popping out to the Warehouse to shop for jeans for Nick's forthcoming birthday; our last arrangement for the day was tea at Andreas and Danielle along with Matt and Adele and the girls. We didn't know tea would be by way of a barbeque - such a treat and the perfect day for a 'braai'! This new bit of gorgeousness is Roxy, the Bothas' SA canine who has finally decided to immigrate to live with them permanently in NZ. She is the loveliest thing!

Enjoying the evening sun before going inside for tea and much laughter around the table!